B

Baroness Chakrabarti (Lab)

Speaking in the House of Lords on 18 March 2026

Debate

Crime and Policing Bill

Contribution

My Lords, at this hour I should be sleeping or dancing; I am at least barely standing. At 10 years, the age of criminal responsibility in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is the lowest in Europe. It is two years below Scotland and four years below the age advocated by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. It is contrary to everything we understand about brain development, and in facilitating criminalisation rather than the proper care, protection, and education of children, it is out of step with progressive values. I thank all those across the House who supported an amendment in Committee to raise the age to 14. None the less, in the spirit of compromise, I now propose 12 years old, in line with the law north of the border—where the heavens did not fall. In so doing, I pay tribute to the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, the noble Lord, Lord Dholakia, and many other penal reformers in this House who, for decades, have pursued this and similar humanist causes. I urge noble Lords—I look at my noble friends in particular—to dig deep into their values, search their souls and ask what this says about us. I beg to move.

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